The recent failure and abrupt closing of Argosy University highlights the dangers that expensive accredited programs can pose to students seeking higher education.
Blue Marble University presents an unaccredited alternative education model. Yet, all of our PhD programs are equivalent to a regionally accredited US college or university. “Equivalent” means “the same as”.
And we only charge from $2,700/year to $3,450/year, not the tens of thousands of dollars students were paying at Argosy for that “accredited” label.
The Argosy collapse leaving students stranded was presented here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apos-unfair-understatement-apos-students-215321031.html
As mentioned in the article:
“Niki Terranova has worked for nearly six years to earn a doctorate degree. She was finally set to finish her internship, the last piece of the degree’s requirements, on June 21. Graduation was in sight.
She was picturing the ceremony, where she would get “hooded,” a rite of passage for doctoral graduates.
But all of that has changed.
Terranova, 41, was a student as Argosy University, which abruptly shuttered its campuses across the country last week, leaving thousands of students adrift.
Whether she will graduate, or have to redo some of her education, is murky…
She’s spent tens of thousands of dollars in tuition each year. She was owed more than $9,000 in financial aid for this semester that she never received after the school’s finances melted down…
The nationwide chain of schools closed after months of turmoil and unpaid financial aid led the U.S. Department of Education to yank eligibility for federal aid programs, the final nail in the coffin for a university.
Thousands of students were displaced by the closures, many of whom are pursuing master’s or doctorate degrees. “
Like a failed bank, other schools have stepped in to try to offer limited transfer credits, in an effort to cover up the black eye for “accreditation” this closing has caused. As stated in the article:
“Several schools across the country have stepped in to help students, but making a move from one college to another, especially late in a graduate program, is not an easy feat.
Transferring often means losing credits as the receiving schools want to make sure classes are of a certain quality and can replace program requirements at their campuses.
Losing credits means more time — and money — spent on a degree.
And in some cases, moving colleges requires an actual move.”
And Argosy was not the first such closure, nor will it be the last. After a series of legal challenges by state and federal US agencies, Corinthian Colleges announced on April 26, 2015 that they would cease operations at all remaining US locations the next day. The closure affected more than 16,000 students and employees. The abrupt closure of one of the largest “accredited” college providers accused of defrauding students has already cost taxpayers $350 million in loan-forgiveness costs. The final bill to taxpayers could total as much as $3.5 billion. [Reference: https://www.chronicle.com/article/Accreditation-Is-Broken-Time/240086]
As noted in a 2018 Report issued by the US Department of Education, continuing accreditation reviews are costly, with many institutions claiming that, due to the added costs of legal support and consulting services, they can run as high as $1 million for a single institution. [Reference: Rethinking Higher Education: Accreditation Reform, 2018, Page 8]
Blue Marble University, based in the Commonwealth of Dominica, is not accredited by any US accreditor. And does not have to be. Even the U.S. Department of Education agrees, noting in their December 2018 discussion of needed accreditation reform:
“Postsecondary accreditation is a voluntary process in that a college or university need not be accredited in order to provide instruction or confer academic degrees”. [Reference at Page 1: US Dept of Education 2018:Rethinking Higher Education: Accreditation Reform]
As summarized on the Accreditation Page of the Blue Marble University website:
Blue Marble University is a virtual university offering distance education programs at a very affordable cost…so affordable, you won’t need any student loans. Are we accredited? No, and we don’t look to be.
The concept of “accreditation” is applicable only to US colleges and universities and does not apply to international educational institutions, such as Blue Marble University…
Our doctoral degrees, as most foreign education degrees, are accepted in the USA as being equivalent to a regionally accredited USA college or university, as determined by a professional foreign credentials evaluation service. We are “equivalent” because all of our doctoral degrees are comprised of a minimum 72 trimester credit hours, the minimum required in the USA. If you were to attend a university overseas, it would not be “accredited”. Yet many people with overseas education use that education in the USA. They have their degrees approved as equivalent to a regionally accredited USA college or university by one of the many foreign education credential evaluation services.
Because all of our doctoral programs require a minimum of 72 trimester credits of study, they are equivalent to the minimum requirements for a regionally accredited USA college or university doctoral degree. Therefore, graduates of our doctoral programs are qualified for most state and federal jobs based on our degree being equivalent to a USA doctoral degree. Graduates can if needed and for a nominal fee, receive a certificate from various foreign credential evaluators to the effect that the doctoral degree issued by Blue Marble University is equivalent to a doctoral degree issued by a regionally accredited USA college or university…
The only value to attending an accredited institution is that you will qualify for federal loan programs which you will need to pay for it!! Only “accredited” institutions qualify for USA student loans. This is totally irrelevant to Blue Marble University, which charges as low as $2700/yr for a doctoral program…you don’t need a student loan…and we even offer a no interest payment plan.
Read our complete discussion of our accreditation here: https://bluemarbleuniversity.com/academics/accreditation/
Blue Marble University, which specializes in offering 3 year online doctoral programs for working adults and early admission doctoral programs for high school graduates, is an alternative education provider. And we are proud to be advancing the model for what higher education should be.
Blue Marble University
NON-ACCREDITED….NON-TRADITIONAL
BUT EQUIVALENT
Blue Marble University 